It is disconcerting when any organization is placed above criticism. It appears that this youth had given at least a bit of thought to his position. If there is an inaccuracy the most logical approach would be for the Scientologists to provide evidence that they do not belong to a cult. When an organization’s only defense is prosecution, persecution, or ad hominem attacks then it would appear the criticism may not actually be a criticism but an accurate evaluation.

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“Most of the Israelites did not come from outside Canaan - they emerged from within it. There was no mass Exodus from Egypt…no violent conquest of Canaan. The early Israelites were - irony of ironies - themselves originally Canaanites!

The conquest of Canaan by Joshua could not have happened [as] described in the Bible. Most of the towns…either weren’t inhabited, didn’t exist or were conquered at wildly different times.” —Finkelstein and Silberman

It is disconcerting when any organization is placed above criticism. It appears that this youth had given at least a bit of thought to his position.
[...] When an organization’s only defense is prosecution, persecution, or ad hominem attacks then it would appear the criticism may not actually be a criticism but an accurate evaluation.

Very true

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“We may be confused about the distinction between tolerance and the refusal of evaluation, thinking that tolerance of others requires us not to evaluate what they do.”
Martha Nussbaum
—Cultivating Humanity

Scientology is indeed a cult. Hubbard intended to create a cult in order to become wealthy. IMO it still exists only because people are eager to believe in something illogical in order to try and control their lives. The unfortunate name of the cult tends to draw people in but belies its pernicious nature.

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Real honesty is accepting the theories that best explain the actual data even if those explanations contradict our cherished beliefs.-Scotty